The Walls Came Tumbling Down! Text: Joshua 6:1-27 Series: The Venture and Victory of Faith [Joshua, #6] Pastor Lyle L. Wahl April 12, 2015

Transcription

1 The Walls Came Tumbling Down! Text: Joshua 6:1-27 Series: The Venture and Victory of Faith [Joshua, #6] Pastor Lyle L. Wahl April 12, 2015 Theme: God gives victory through faith. Introduction [Play recording]. Yes, the walls came tumbling down. 1 That is where we are as we resume our march through the Old Testament book of Joshua. Two Israeli spies checked out Jericho and made an agreement with Rahab, who had placed her faith in God and helped them. Israel had crossed the raging flood-stage Jordan River on dry ground by God s miraculous work. Now the conquest of their promised land begins with Jericho, where the walls came tumbling down. Let s start with a bit of background on Jericho. Jericho was strategic to Israel conquering the land. It was just west of the Jordan River, directly ahead from where Israel had crossed and camped. It was the first city on their route of conquest. It was a gateway to move up from the Jordan River valley into the hill country. It was a well-fortified city. It was built on a rock mound and was a small city of about eight acres. Listen to one scholar s description of its defences. The walls were of a type which made direct assault practically impossible. An approaching enemy first encountered a stone abutment eleven feet high, back and up from which sloped a thirty-five-degree plastered scarp reaching to the main wall some thirty-five vertical feet above. The steep, smooth slope prohibited battering the wall by any effective device or building fires to break it. An army trying to storm the wall found difficulty in climbing the slope, and ladders to scale it could find no satisfactory footing. The normal tactic used by an enemy to take a city so protected was siege, but Israel did not have time for this if she was to occupy all the land in any reasonable number of months. 2

2 But we know the account. We know that the method used to defeat Jericho was anything but conventional. It was God s method. The walls came tumbling down by His direct, miraculous work. As we review the account we are drawn back to the main theme of this book, The Venture and Victory of Faith. Here we see very clearly the unchanging principle that God gives victory through faith. For Israel this was not only the first city to conquer, but also their first test of victory by faith in God. All of us face spiritual opportunities, challenges and battles each day. God gives us victory through faith. This record of Jericho gives us a picture of the kind of faith that brings victory, that brings the walls tumbling down. Faith that truly believes God. Wall-tumbling-down faith truly believes God. All of us have different kinds and degrees of faith. I have faith that this platform is not going to come tumbling down while I am on it. But that faith is not thought out or based on any claims or facts that I have questioned and weighed. True Christian faith in God is not a leap into the dark because God is not silent. And He invites us to ask sufficient questions and then believe in him. 3 Truly believing God includes believing His Word, His promises. God gave promises to Joshua and Israel. Back in chapter 1 God told Joshua, arise, cross this Jordan, you and all this people, to the land which I am giving to them, to the sons of Israel. Every place on which the sole of your foot treads, I have given it to you, just as I spoke to Moses (2-3). Now here in chapter 6, facing the first fortified city in the land, God again spoke clearly. Look at verse 2. The LORD said to Joshua, See, I have given Jericho into your hand, with its king and the valiant warriors. Drop down to verse 5 where God tells him, When you hear the priests give one long blast on the rams horns, have all the people shout as loud as they can. Then the walls of the town will collapse, and the people can charge straight into the town (NLT). People often point out Israel s lack of faith in God, but as you read the account of Jericho there is not the slightest hint that Joshua, his commanders or the people doubted God s promise of victory. God speaks to us and gives us promises in the Bible. In the broad scope the apostle Peter tells us that God has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises. 4 First and foremost is God s promise to change who we are, our present state and future destiny. God promises to change us from being dead in our sins to being alive together with Christ. 5 God 2

3 promises to change us from being separated from Him to having Him with us always and forever. 6 God has given us many promises. And, as Paul wrote, all of God s promises are Yes in Christ (NIV). 7 The question is do we really believe God s promises? When everything is going wrong and falling apart, when nothing makes sense and fits together, do we still believe God s promises? When the sun is shining and everything seems great, are we still relying on God s promises? God gives victory through faith that believes His promises. Israel at Jericho shows us this faith also believes God s strategy. God s strategy for defeating Jericho was simple and strange. He told Joshua, Assemble your forces. Lead out with priests carrying the Ark, with a front and rear guard around them. Then have your forces fall in line behind them. March to and around the city in silence, except the priests blowing ram s horn trumpets, and then return to camp. Do this for six days. On the seventh day march around the city seven times, and on signal all the forces are to shout, and the walls of Jericho will fall down flat. Yes, it was simple and strange. Simple and strange to Joshua, the priests, their military leaders and the people. But they believed God s strategy. Simple and strange to all the generations from then to today. So much so that some have tried to discredit the account and others have tried to invent a natural explanation for the walls coming down. While to us it was simple and strange, it was God s strategy. God s strategy for salvation is for people to seek Him to receive His love and pardon. Some say, This is too simple and strange! God says My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts. 8 God s simple and strange strategy for believers to relate to others includes loving our enemies and praying for those who persecute us; 9 nor retaliating against an evil person; 10 going the extra mile with those who oppress us; 11 giving to those who ask and want to borrow something rather than turning away from them; 12 seeking to be the first by serving others rather than lording it over them. 13 To experience victory, to see the walls come tumbling down, we must believe God s strategy. God s strategy of holy, Christ-like character to defeat sin, be mature and useful rather than posturing. God s strategy of prayer, the Bible, worship and outreach to grow the church, not market driven approaches. God gives victory through faith that truly believes Him. 3

4 Faith that totally obeys God. Total obedience is a foreign concept to many people. The story is told of a man who had a very obedient dog. One day when they were in the woods he gave the dog a command to stay while he went on. The dog stayed. A fire started, quickly moving to where the dog was. The dog obeyed his master s command, stayed, and died in the fire. The owner said, I always had to be careful what I told him to do, because I knew he would do it. 14 Faith is the victory faith that readily and eagerly obeys God. Joshua and the people readily and eagerly obeyed God here. God outlined the strategy in verses 2-5. Then, verse 6 begins with the word So. God directed and so Joshua called the leaders and gave them directions. Verse 8, And it was so. The people moved out. After day one we read in verse 12, Now Joshua rose early in the morning. They didn t sleep in or take it easy. Joshua and the people got up and at it. Look at verse 15. Then on the seventh day they rose early at the dawning of the day and marched around the city in the same manner seven times. Yes, they readily and eagerly obeyed God here, and so experienced victory. And so must we to experience victory. God directs us to study His word, and we should obey as the people of Berea did, receiving the word with great eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily. 15 Paul charged Timothy to be ready in season and out of season to carry out his witness and ministry. 16 He charged Titus to remind believers to be ready for every good deed. 17 It s been said, Instant obedience is the only kind of obedience there is; delayed obedience is disobedience. 18 For you and me to experience victory, we too must readily, eagerly obey God in all things at all times. It is, as one writer tells us, more important to gird ourselves for the grind of life than it is to throw ourselves into high gear for the grandiose affairs of life. 19 The simple truth is that if we do not gird ourselves for the grind of life, we will not be prepared for the grandiose affairs of life. As well, our obedience must be bold and disciplined. God s strategy was simple and strange to Israel. And Israel s marching around the city for a week must have seemed strange to the people in Jericho. Back in chapter 2 Rahab told the spies, our hearts melted and no courage remained in any man any longer because of you; for the LORD your God, He is God in heaven above and on earth beneath (11). Joshua does not tell us if the people in Jericho silently watched Israel march in fear or loudly taunted Israel. Regardless of what they thought, Israel boldly obeyed God. Israel also was disciplined in carrying out God s strategy. They marched as God directed, for seven days. They had the discipline not to shout or even speak a word until told to on 4

5 the seventh day (10, 20). They had the discipline to follow God s orders through Joshua to deal with Jericho. As verse 21 tells us, They devoted the city to the Lord and destroyed with the sword every living thing in it men and women, young and old, cattle, sheep and donkeys (NIV). These were not experienced, cold-hearted soldiers, but average people enlisted to fight for Israel. Think of how difficult it was for them to hold discipline here. When we were in chapter 2 we noted that God had been very patient with the people of Canaan, including the people of Jericho. Now the time of patience gave way to the time of their judgment. Question: Do you obey God boldly and with discipline? Run through today to this point, this weekend, or the last week. The apostle Paul used a sports analogy to describe disciplined obedience. Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified (ESV). 20 He obeyed God boldly and with discipline as he pressed on to victory day by day and the prize of Jesus saying to him, Well done, good and faithful servant. Faith that patiently waits on God. God gives victory through faith that truly believes Him, totally obeys Him and, also, faith that patiently waits on Him. Patient faith does not get discouraged when we don t see what we want, good things, or even any evidence of God working. Think of Israel marching around Jericho. God told Joshua the complete plan, but Joshua did not tell the people how long this marching would last. Look at verse 10. But Joshua commanded the people, saying, You shall not shout nor let your voice be heard nor let a word proceed out of your mouth, until the day I tell you, Shout! Then you shall shout! He said, Don t shout until I tell you to shout! I suspect some may have wondered why nothing happened as they sat around camp after the first day. And then there was day 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 and still nothing! Day 7. They marched around Jericho once as in the previous 5

6 six days. And then a second, third, fourth, fifth and sixth time and still nothing! What would have happened if the people rebelled, as their parents had in the wilderness, and said, Joshua, we ve had enough of this! We re going back to camp! We want a new leader! This time the people had faith, patient faith that waited on God and did not get discouraged. And so, on the seventh day, on the seventh time around they got to shout. The walls came tumbling down. God gave them the victory. Patient faith, not getting discouraged. You may say, But I m just not a patient person. That s not for me. God says that the fruit the Holy Spirit produces in His people, all His people who follow Him, is love, joy, peace patience. 21 Patience. He builds into our character and faith as we set our minds on things above, not on the earth, 22 as we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal (NIV). 23 Closely related to this is faith that is the victory is faith that relies on God s timing. I won t walk through all the details again, we know them. The seventh day of marching around the city, on the seventh time around was God s appointed time. Joshua and the people could not have sped it up by going around Jericho six times on day one and seven times on day two. It could have seemed like they were wasting time, that they ought to shift it into high gear. God set the timing, as He always has and always will. Patient faith waits on God s timing. They weren t sitting back doing nothing. They were fully engaged in what God told them to do as they waited on Him. Abraham and Sarah tried to rush God s timing of providing an heir to make a great nation from them. The result was disastrous. Ishmael, the child of their own effort, and his descendants have been in conflict with Isaac, the result of God s work, all these centuries since then. And so we keep faith, we keep being faithful while we wait. We do not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary. 24 Conclusion. The walls of Jericho came tumbling down because God gives victory through faith. This was the first battle in their promised land. But there was also a battle within themselves would they really trust God or not? You and I face the battle of Jericho every day. That is, every day we are engaged in a spiritual battle against Satan s forces, against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. 28 Every day we face the battle within the battles of our will rather than God s will, of temptations and weaknesses. Every day we face 6

7 the battle without the battles of changing circumstances in relationships, school, work and society. God will give us victory through faith faith that truly believes Him, that totally obeys Him and that patiently waits on Him. Thank God that He will give you victory in the battles you face. Determine to live by faith and see God bring the walls tumbling down. 1 Peter Jacobs. Joshua Fought The Battle of Jericho. Public Domain. Aduio: < 2 Leon J. Wood, revised by David O Brien. A Survey of Israel s History. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1970, 1986, pages , cf. pages Francis A. Schaeffer. He Is There And He Is Not Silent. Wheaton: Tyndale House Publishers, 1972, page Peter 1: Ephesians 2:1, 5. 6 e.g., John 14:16; Hebrews 13: Corinthians 1:20. 8 Isaiah 55: Matthew 5: Matthew 5: Matthew 5: Matthew 5: Matthew 20: Attributed to poet Archibald Rutledge; original reference not verified. 15 Acts 17: Timothy 4: Titus 3:1. 18 Attributed to Thomas a Kempis. 19 Charles Ryrie. Balancing the Christian Life. Chicago: Moody Publishers, 1994, page

8 20 1 Corinthians 9: Galatians 5: Colossians 3: Corinthians 4:18, NIV. 24 Galatians 6:9. 25 Ephesians 6: Lyle L. Wahl Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE, Copyright 1960, 1962, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. Scripture quotations marked (NIV) are from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION, NIV Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. Scripture quotations marked (ESV) are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version (ESV ), copyright 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois All rights reserved. 8